This week on the Daily Grind livestream, we’re discussing the road to re-opening as many States make plans to open businesses. On Tuesday during the Daily Grind livestream, Ashley McConnell discussed the role of CMMS in reopening multi-site facilities. As the Vice President of Operations at Officetrax, she brings her expertise in CMMS tools for managing and servicing multi-site facilities.
“My experience comes from the chain management side of operations,” stated McConnell. “I think moving forward as we begin to re-open facilities; we need to understand the impact of the pandemic on employees.
COVI-19 had a massive impact across the board and, understanding employee needs as they return to work will be critical. One thing lacking under lockdown is socialization. People haven’t been around each other, and socialization is a critical part of our day-to-day work mode. Companies need to embrace the socialization.
It’s also going to be a very chaotic time as employees come back to work. They will be faced with the enormous task of picking up where they left off. Most of us while working from home simply worked in a corporate ‘life support mode.’ That’s where the right CMMS can guide employees in setting tasks and goals to manage issues and get the doors open again.”
When asked how her company is helping with the re-opening process, Ashley responded “At Officetrax, we know a CMMS is made to efficiently implement processes. However, every process begins with a human being there. Therefore, we need to ensure they have the right tools and understand how they use them. We each do our jobs in different ways, so we really need to fill in the knowledge gaps and be able to answer the questions they’re going to have. Ultimately, I’d look at this challenge like a UTX process.
1) Understand what the overall picture is
2) Transfer responsibilities and provide training
3) Execute the plan
The bottom line is to provide your employees the assurance and tools they need to be successful and to ensure your re-opening will be as smooth as possible. The right CMMS is critical, as well as the processes to move your team forward to the other side of the pandemic,” McConnell concluded.